Many of us have no idea when we or our loved ones might take
our last breath. We don’t know when our
health might take a sudden turn or when an unexpected accident or disaster
might end our life. There are individuals
among us, who every day walk out the door to go to work and face a significantly
higher chance of not coming home. I’m
thinking of those that serve in the military, in law enforcement, as fire
fighters and first responders. For some
reason, there are those among us that are willing to put themselves at greater
risk every day to make our lives safer and more secure.
As the son of a lifelong law enforcement office and military
veteran, it was normal for me to know that my dad was leaving for a shift or
for an overseas deployment knowing that he might not come home. On more than one occasion I remember my
father, ready to walk out the door after some type of family strife, doing his
best to soften hurt feelings. He would
say, “I can’t leave with us angry at each other.” In case of any terrible incident at work, he
didn’t want our last interaction with him to be unkind or angry. He didn’t want that to be our last memory of
our living relationship with him.
Sometimes I thought he was a little too dramatic about
it. Often, I would ride with him during
his shifts, both as a deputy sheriff in a rural county and as a police office
in a medium-sized city. Most shifts were
uneventful with seemingly little risk of harm.
But I remember watching him carefully approach a car he had pulled over
on the side of a lonely highway late at night and wondering why everyone was
moving around in the vehicle. Questions
began to run through my mind. What if they were breaking a law? What if they had a warrant out for their
arrest? What if they were armed? What if they started shooting? It was an unpleasant experience.
Another experience comes to mind when I was with him. He and another officer responded to an alarm
at an office building. When we arrived,
a door was ajar. I watched as the drew
their weapons and cleared the building, listening closely to the radio as they
reported their progress. Again,
uncomfortable questions began to run through my mind.
Sitting in his police vehicle, on more than one occasion, he
talked me through the importance of knowing our location in case he became
incapacitated and I needed to call for more help. He talked to me about driving his vehicle
away in case things became openly violent.
It never happened, but I always payed attention.
As far as I know, my father was never shot at while on duty
as a law enforcement officer. The same
isn’t true of his decades of military service in the US Navy Reserve. He was deployed to Kuwait, Iraq, and
Afghanistan on more than one occasion, flying in and out of dangerous
areas. Together with his fellow sailors,
soldiers, and marines, he survived multiple mortar round attacks.
Every time a law enforcement officer dies in the line of
service, my heart breaks. It breaks for
the officer’s family. It breaks for the
officer’s fellow officers. It breaks for
the officer’s community. My heart breaks
every time one of our brave men or women die as part of their military
service. None of these people are forced
to put themselves in harm’s way on our behalf.
They chose to do it.
This past week one loss hit extremely close to home. Tears and anxiety hit me hard when I learned
that a Provo City Police Officer was shot and killed in the line of duty. My father served the Provo City Police
Department for twenty years, retiring as a lieutenant. I know several of the officers at the department. Some are close family friends. I’ve ran marathons and other races with
several of them. Immediately, I started
to run through the names of all of the officers. I reached out to my father, who is serving as
a Federal agent in Germany for the US Government (his retirement job). We continued to message back and forth as we
waited for the name of the officer to be released to the public.
I never met Officer Joseph Shinners, but I know him. I know his family. I know the worry that they felt every day he
went to work. I know the pride his
family felt because of his service. I know
of Officer Shinners’ desire to do something bigger than himself, to protect others. I know that he thought of his family often
while he worked, especially when he weighed the costs and risks of his chose
profession.
In the face of all the negative press and feelings toward
law enforcement, I remain deeply grateful for a group of men and women that are
willing to give so much for others. Let
us not forget that they are willing to do what many of us would never consider
doing. Let us not forget that in a
moment of danger and need, we want a police officer to be at the ready, present
to help us. Let us not forget that much
of the safety and security exists in our communities because these men and
women are willing to stand between us and those who have no respect for the law
or the rights of others. They, not us,
step up to deal with the unpleasantness and the danger.
God bless the men and women in uniform.
Officer Joseph Shinners Biography
https://www.heraldextra.com/lifestyles/announcements/obituaries/officer-joseph-william-shinners/article_edcdf4dc-2e07-5d90-8fb2-deb0ff4d3986.html
